Huckleberries: Human relations task force more than description

Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations members weren’t happy with Huckleberries’ description of the venerable group last Sunday – as one that “prefers to accentuate the positive and focus on education.” Tony Stewart and Coeur d’Alene police Sgt. Christie Wood emailed my HucksOnline blog that the highlighted activities are but a “partial description of who we are.” Huckleberries had spotlighted how Rachel Dolezal, formerly of the Human Rights Education Institute, faced down KKKers during their protest of the task force-backed MLK Day event for fifth-graders at North Idaho College Jan. 13. In their email, Stewart and Wood listed hate-crime victims the task force has helped, dating back to attacks against Hayden restaurant owner Sid Rosen and Coeur d’Alene mother Connie Fort in the early 1980s. The group, they said, was instrumental in the 1998 case of Victoria and Jason Keenan that ultimately bankrupted the Aryan Nations. The 1986 bombing of the late Bill Wassmuth’s home is an example of serious threats task force members have endured, they said, adding: “We are not just a feel good organization.”

Gotcha! Not

A Diamond Parking attendant didn’t realize whom he was ticketing when he cited Eric Barro, of Coeur d’Alene. Eric was ticketed for parking in downtown Spokane on Thursday after his meter had expired. Only it hadn’t. Eric, of Lake City Photography, photographed the, ah, “crime scene,” Facebooking his shots. A three-photograph sequence shows that Eric’s parking stub for the lot next to the Fernwell Building at Riverside and Howard expired at 6:34 p.m. He was cited 10 minutes earlier at 6:24 p.m. Eric also has a photo of the second parking ticket he bought, at 6:28 p.m., six minutes before the original expiration time. Obviously, Eric isn’t happy with the $19 ticket he was issued for, ahem, illegal parking. Nor should he be.

Huckleberries

Poet’s Corner: “Bad news for all,/I’m sad to say – /still nine months ’til/Election Day” – The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Extended Forecast: More Hot Air”) … In the “What Was He Thinking?” Dept., a Hauser Lake man with a warrant against him for driving without privileges called the sheriff’s office Tuesday to report that an area bar had over-served his gal-pal … Then there was the disorderly man who smiled after he was denied service for being drunk at a state liquor store in Post Falls on Tuesday afternoon. He wasn’t drunk, he said. He was still hung over from the night before … Poll: My blog readers are more concerned with legislators (73 percent) encamping for months at the Capitol than Boise Occupiers (16 percent) or the Idaho press corps (11 percent) doing so … After hearing a teen boy in a Geo Storm was driving recklessly in the Red Lion Templin’s lot Thursday afternoon, a HucksOnline wag quipped: “Doesn’t having to drive a Geo Storm as a teenage boy count as punishment enough?” … On Thursday, Coeur d’Alene Realtor Tom Torgerson Facebooked: “Feeling bad. After 8 years on deer infested Fernan Hill, I finally hit one this morning. Not cool.” But inevitable if you drive North Idaho roads.

Parting shot

In her blog, A Butterfly Moment, Jen Rude, of Hayden, sums up the fine line mothers with children walk: “It’s a good thing I have a 3-year-old who still thinks I’m ‘the best mommy in the world’ to balance out the 12-year-old who often thinks I’m ‘the meanest mom in the world.’ ” And parents everywhere can say: Been there, done that.